Darkness Approaches
:In order to test his new powers attained through two years of training under the Seijin, Minato was pitted against Satoshi Konishi. In a spar of explosions, tactics, and good old close-range melee, Minato soundly tied a score of 1 to 1. However, as their sensei had to leave to attend a meeting, they were ordered to clean up their mess. However, an evil is slowly approaching the temple... Attack! "Begin." The first thing that was heard was from the explosions that had occurred from the mysterious men clad in black. Explosion after explosion, black smoke filled the air as sirens were heard from within the temple. Several low-ranked Seijin were scattered in alarm, one by one being struck down by these asassains. The leader from before could only chuckle from the outside at the scene his men were causing. "The powerful Seijin... caught off guard so easily! Ha ha ha hahaha!" he would muse, slowly allowing himself to levitate from the ground in order to get a better view of the destruction. Explosions rocked the ground, as both Minato and Satoshi immediately took notice of the earthquakes, losing their ground as their face reflected their surprise and shock. "M-Minato, the hell's happening?!" Satoshi was the first to react, as Minato ran for the nearby window, catching view of the black smoke rising from the destroyed temple parts, flames igniting with each attack, following by fiercer earthquakes. "No clue, but we better get out there!" Minato and Satoshi ran for the outside, as two of the black clad men approached them. With no hesitation, Satoshi drew his sword, cutting down both of the attackers. Both of the men fell to the floor, evident that the damage knocked them out. "Minato, whatever's happening, we best be on our guard!" he advised. But Minato's attention was elsewhere. Looking up, he noticed the leader of this attack, floating in the air above the temple. "Satoshi... that guy. He's dressed differently than the two men who attacked us just now." Minato noted. Satoshi noted the demeanour of the man who Minato pointed out. He looked much too content with the scene. And given his appearance, he wasn't just another lackey. Minato then smiled. "Satoshi... he hasn't picked up on us. How about we... bring the fight to him?" Satoshi could only grin. "Agreed." Counter of the Seijin Duo The leader watched in delight, shown by his devious grin. "Yes... things are going according to plan." "Getsuga..." The leader immediately heightened his attention. "Hadō #33..." "What is this spiritual power?" the leader questioned, turning around to see two figures with enhanced spiritual energy surrounding them. "Tenshō!" "Sōkatsui!" Two immense bursts of spiritual energy quickly fired and together, crashed into the surprised leader. Minato grinned. "We got him!" "...I must admit." "Huh?!" Both Minato and Satoshi stared in shock, as the smoke cleared, revealing the leader to have emerged from the attack, barely scuffed from the double attack. "To attack an opponent you are clueless about, in terms of abilities, is quite brave. No... Instead, I'll call it foolhardy." he remarked with a condescending smile. Satoshi immediately drew his sword, bearing a smirk at the action. "Should've known..." The leader closed his eyes still smiling as before. "Judging by your spiritual power, one of you is a Shinigami..." But then his attention drifted toward Minato. "This is interesting. A human among the Seijin? But your spiritual power easily ranks with them. Very interesting." he noted. Minato's eyes narrowed, but Satoshi refused to wait it out. He charged in with the full intent of killing the man. "Die!" he yelled, thrusting his sword at the leader, but the sudden appearance of a red shield of energy blocked the assault, blowing Satoshi away by the counterforce. Satoshi flew back to where Minato stood, the latter staring down this leader with an intent to attack. "My my... so eager to die today? I'd rather not kill children. But considering you can't even scratch my barrier, there's no point in even using any of my powers." the leader explained, raising his hand as several beams of light escaped from the barrier. These strands took physical forms, turning into blades of various shapes, all floating and pointed at the two Seijin. "If anything, I am not a rude man. I will tell you the name of the man who's about to kill you. Leader of the Third Division of the Armed Army, Keisuke Mimoto." he declared, pointing at the two men as the blades flew at them at high speeds. Narrowly avoiding the attack of the levitating blades, Satoshi jumped up high, aiming his sword for Keisuke. "Hadō #32: Ōkasen!" A massive arc of yellow energy flew from the edge of his blade, crashing into the barrier of Keisuke. However, just as both, as the smoke cleared, the barrier remained intact. Keisuke could only laugh. "For Seijin, you're still just a bunch of kids. Never learning your lesson! Your attacks are too weak to break my barrier!" "Doesn't mean we can't try!" yelled Minato, who appeared from behind Keisuke. Keisuke's eyes widened in surprise. "Getsuga Tenshō!" shouted Minato, his massive attack crashing into the barrier just as Satoshi's attack did. But again, it was in vain. The smoke cleared, and Keisuke stood unharmed, his barrier slightly cracked. "Impressive." But the crack slowly began to fade away, Keisuke's energy healing the fragmented piece of the barrier. "But not good enough." He swiped his hand through the air, and two blades sliced deep into Minato's shoulders, the young teen screaming in pain. "Minato!!" yelled Satoshi, flashing to Minato's location as fast as he could. But this left him unguarded. Keisuke sent a blade crashing into Satoshi's stomach, causing both of the Seijin to bleed as they attempted to escape Keisuke's reach. "Sa... Satoshi... are you alright...?" panted Minato, wheezing slightly but nevertheless, he was beginning to regain his composure. Satoshi, who was also panting somewhat, shook his head and stood up straight. "Y... yeah, I'm fine." Both of their eyes were on Keisuke, who was only smiling at the futile attempts made by these two. Masters of the Seijin Sorata was running along the pathway of the Temple. His thoughts drifted a moment to earlier, when the two men in black attacked him from behind. He is shown easily cutting them down with his sword, commenting on how these men could have entered into their stronghold so effortlessly and unnoticed. "Naoya!" yelled Sorata as he kicked down the door, walking to a man with bright red hair who was sitting down and drinking down a glass of sake, as if he was on break, and there was nothing happening outside. "Ho.. How can you sit here and drink when the temple is being attacked?" he asked. Naoya merely drank another sip, and sighed softly. "Sorata... don't get so worked up. The situation's being handled." he explained. Elsewhere, three of the attackers were chasing down a Seijin student, running for his life. "Some... someone help me!" he screamed. "Scatter..." Suddenly, a torrent of pink blossoms swept along the pathway, slicing up the attackers effortlessly. The Seijin looked up in surprise to see a man with flowing blonde hair, bearing a serious and emotionless facial expression. In another region of the temple... "Bushōgoma!" A swirling wind picked up a group of attackers, crashing them into a wall as they fell in different directions to their defeat. The wind came from a man with brown hair, wearing a sakkat. "Man, oh man. This is getting tedious." he panted once. Not out of exhastion, but out of... Call it boredom. "Set, Jikkō'omo." called out a man with white hair and glasses, his sword glowing white and extending far outwards, cutting through the chests of several of the men. He swung his blade to the side, midsection cutting several more of them. As they all fell, the man adjusted his glasses. "Let this show you... the prowess of us Seijin. Don't ever underestimate us." he remarked. Naoya continued to drink, bearing his peace of mind facial expression. Sorata nodded, and smiled somewhat. "Indeed it is." Lessons from the Past: Minato's Final Attack! Satoshi panted in exhaustion. "It's useless... none of our attacks are even phasing that barrier." "Yeah... What are we-." Minato started, but then his eyes widened in surprise, closing immediately after. "W... Wait! I remember...!" ~ "Minato, let me explain something to you. Since you're improving your skills, it's important that I teach you the significance of combining your attacks." Minato looked over. "What do you mean, Master Seireitou?" Seireitou's smile could be seen. "When you find that your attacks aren't powerful enough, it's important to know that by combining two different attacks, it is theoretically possible to form a new attack that easily bests the other two." The student smiled in response. "I get it, like combining two different Taekwondo kicks, like Front Kick and Roundhouse Kick, to perfect something like Side Kick!" Seireitou nodded. "Exactly." ~ Minato's eyes then opened. "That's it!" He looked over to Satoshi. "Satoshi... you have to hit me." "Huh?" Satoshi looked over in confusion. Had Minato gone crazy? "Just trust me on this... Hit me with a powerful Kidō spell." Minato stated, forming his Zukōseki energy blade at his hand. Although Satoshi was still unsure, he nodded, putting faith in this crazy plan. He backed away, and aimed his palm at Minato. Keisuke's eyes narrowed. "What are they up to?" "Limit of the sun's light, the moon unable to be seen past the clouds." Satoshi began, his palm lighting up with a heavy amount of spiritual power. "With eyes glaring at the unforgiving blue sky, the road is torn by toil." "Bring forth light! Destroy!" "Aim far away, and condense upon the point of darkness." "I hope you know what you are doing... Minato!" "Hadō #83: Mugen Sōkatsui!" he shouted, releasing an immense beam of blue spiritual energy from his palm, roughly the same size as Minato's Getsuga. "Ha ha ha ha!! They've gone mad! They know they face death and decided to kill off eachother!!" shouted Keisuke in pure delight. Minato thrusted his sword into the attack. "HAHHHH!" he yelled. "Wana...shō...!" The energy slowly dwindled in size, being sucked into the spirit blade. "What?!" began Keisuke, his delight quickly turning into shock. "No...Now..." Minato started, struggling to keep the immense power of Satoshi's Hadō in his hands while focusing even more energy into his sword. "See it... n-now! My new attack... Ōshūha Getsuga Tenshō!" he shouted, slashing his blade down as the entire sky lit up with the glow of Minato's energy, creating a immense energy wave, easily the size of a mountain. The size and immense glow caused all eyes of the Seijin to look upon it in surprise. Even Sorata, from the window, viewed the immense light from the attack. "Minato..." The immense wave of spiritual energy came crashing into Keisuke, the latter screaming madly as his barrier began to shatter like fragile glass, his body being destroyed slowly by the force of the energy attack. The Getsuga continued on, slicing high into the sky, along with Keisuke's entire body. Slowly, the light faded away, and there stood Minato. He panted loudly, his energy sword also fading away. "I... I did it..." He was ready to keel over, but Satoshi flashed ahead, catching the boy before he started to fall. From a distance, Sorata could see the image of two figures. And he smiled. The battle... was over. ~END~ :Next Chapter: Report to the Seireitei! Special Promotion!